Carlo Bugatti
Italian (1856-1940)
Cobra chair, c. 1902
vellum, wood, copper, pencil, and paint
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Berdan Memorial Trust Fund, Helen Johnston Acquisition Fund, and Decorative Art Purchase Fund, 1995

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In 1902 Turin, an industrial city in northern Italy, was selected as the site of the largest exhibition of modern decorative arts ever staged. Among the most fantastic displays at the Turin show were four rooms decorated by Carlo Bugatti from Milan, an artist who worked in an eccentric style influenced by Asian and North African designs.

One of Bugatti's designs for the fair was this painted wood side chair with a copper medallion, made for a room used for games and conversation. Shaped like a cobra, its sweeping curved support and circular back and seat are covered in parchment and inscribed with floral and geometric motifs reminiscent of Islamic art. The chair's open design served a practical purpose, allowing men's coattails and women's trains to hang down behind the seat.

Although highly original, Bugatti's designs exhibit the exotic influences, organic shapes, and references to nature that typify Art Nouveau. Two years after winning a silver medal for his work at the Turin exhibition, Bugatti moved to Paris, where, in addition to furniture, he designed silverware. In Paris, Carlo's son Rembrandt became a well-known sculptor, but his most famous offspring was Ettore, designer of the car known simply as the Bugatti.